DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s stock market declined for a fourth straight day on on Wednesday after oil prices fell further, but other Gulf bourses largely moved sideways and Dubai held near a 15-month high. The Saudi index pulled back 1.6 percent to 6,895 points, falling below technical support at the mid-December low of 7,002 points. Another straight close …

  Bloomberg Azerbaijan will transfer as much as 7.5 billion manat ($4 billion) of assets from its sovereign wealth fund to the central bank this year, giving it ammunition to defend the manat in the latest effort to break the grip of a currency crisis. The regulator will use the money to ‘ensure macroeconomic stability’ in 2017, according to a …

  Bloomberg Canadian banks started their 2017 funding programs by selling a record amount of bonds backed by residential mortgages abroad, taking advantage of lower borrowing costs amid demand for their top-rated debt. The country’s biggest financial institutions have sold about $6 billion in covered bonds denominated in euros, US dollars and pounds this year, the most on record for …